There is one thing abundantly  clear about the dreadful murders carried out in just some six minutes by Plymouth born gun-fanatic Jake Davison in his own residential area on the evening of Thursday 12 August 2021 and that is he should never have been legally in possession of a gun, isn’t it?

Be of no doubt as well that HE alone is solely responsible for the massacre killings of his own mother Maxine Davidson(who bizarrely he blamed for his lack of success with women and himself being a virgin), and four other innocent strangers in the street [toy pram pushing 3 year old girl Sophie Martyn, her dad Lee Martyn, and another two passers-by, Kate Shepherd, and huskies dog walker Stephen Washington, plus 2 more shot and seriously injured, Michelle Parsonage and son Ben, before like the coward he was, he shot himself dead, but there are outsiders who should be also held accountable – like the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, Shaun Sawyer, and his financially well rewarded team of police officers who had accepted responsibility for issuing firearm certificates, requiring them to ensure none fell into the wrong hands – when in the case of Davison one certainly DID, so these individuals utterly failed to adequately perform their duty – with 5 victims dead as a consequence! Those policemen should not however be confused with the very brave unarmed and armed cops who rushed to the scene in what proved to be a futile attempt to stop those killings.

[Davison has been described as being a member of the Incel (short for involuntary celibate) community, a fatalistic and misogynistic (hatred or contempt for women or girls – it is a way of keeping women at a lower status than men) with a world view that your position in life cannot change. So although this attack is currently being treated by detectives as a domestic incident, nevertheless early indications are that it was in fact a terror attack (you see Incel definitely can be an ideology for the purposes of terrorism) – indeed there are 10,000 people with women-hating incel views like Davison in the country, and already Jake Davison’s atrocity was praised in extreme misogynistic message boards and the Plymouth gunman was hailed as a ‘saint’ by like-minded misogynists in chat rooms and forums dedicated to the extreme incel subculture. Some users said Jake Davison’s rampage, marked the beginning of a new ‘season’ of attacks by men consumed by a hatred of women

In the first place, mass shooter Davison actually had NO personal RIGHT to own or have a gun – the UK is not America so NOBODY here has the same constitutional right to bear arms. A member of the public gun licence certificate should ONLY be granted by UK Police to an applicant:

1. who poses NO threat to public safety
2. who has good reason for owning a gun

As events have shown, NEITHER of these conditions and constraints could have been applied to this crazed gunman

• Davison had been licensed to own a firearm since 2018, but hindsight has amply demonstrated that he WAS a threat to public safety and the peace, but we will only later find out why that wasn’t identified as such by those responsible (even just by his weird visual appearance). Exactly how did he prove otherwise to the police [not least after having had his licence delaying revoked last December for an assault incident some three months earlier? (but they the police themselves incomprehensibly returned his weapon a month before his murderous rampage) and despite it having been identified also by the police that he in fact had anger management issues, as well as there being ample evidence of legitimate concerns about the state of his mental health!). It’s already self-evident from his running amok that loner Davison is exactly the sort of person that should have been on an establishment ‘watch list’ and certainly NOT somebody on a Police ‘gun-holders list’
• What ‘possible’ valid reason could a 22-year-old trainee crane operator living in a council cul-de-sac in middle of the small Keyham community area of Plymouth city, have to own a shotgun (which if licensed can indeed be lawfully be used for toff sports such as clay-pigeon shooting)– let alone the devastating pump-action shotgun (a repeated shots killing machine) deployed by the maniac in this slaughter, eh?
  
  Gun licence applicant background checks are very much required in this country so what checks were actually carried-out by the police and what follow-up resulted? Any check with anyone who had known him since his teenage days would have reported that he was a dangerous character. It’s noted also that apparently the police have had altercations with Davison over the years, and it also turns out that the social media platform Reddit actually suspended his account in violation of Reddit’s Terms of Service, on the Wednesday, the day before the shootings, after he sexually harassed a 16-year-old girl (five days after the American girl reported him to moderators).
  

He had also posted misogynist and homophobic views on various internet forums whilst utilising Reddit to openly express hostility and resentment towards his mother, Maxine, who had repeatedly attempted to personally get, and persuade him to receive, treatment for purported mental health issues. His channel was subscribed to an account named IncelTV, and other clips of his videos contained further references to – and using terminology of – such Incel community; in one discussing “missing out on a teenage romance” and refers to “Chads“, saying further that: “I’m not advocating this, but if I have to I might even try and use drugs to make up for it, maybe cocaine fuelled sex or something, maybe that can make up for that missed teenage experience.” and “The reality is, love is for the young, and I know I’m still somewhat young and I hope I can make up for it, but I have a feeling like I missed that boat and it’s never coming back

[Note: a chad is a derogatory name given to attractive men who are sexually successful with women]

Reportedly, five years ago in 2016 outside a Tesco less than a mile distant from his killing field, Davison in an unprovoked assault savagely attacked one Scott Hobbs and his pregnant partner. However, the police rather than properly recording it as a serious assault (which would or should have impacted his firearm certificate application), they simply let him off with a mere caution despite the injured man having to be taken to hospital (the police didn’t take the issue seriously and unbelievably said Davison was ‘nothing to worry about’) – later Davison (who at the time did NOT hold a firearm license) also threatened to use a gun on Hobbs as part of a subsequently harassment campaign, eh?

How comes the police were always out of the loop on such significant matters, and so deemed Davison a licensed firearms holder, a safe bet to own and use a powerful weapon?

There are two main categories of guns are people allowed to own – firearms and shotguns.

1. A firearm is defined in the Firearms Act 1968 as any weapon “from which a shot, bullet or other missile… can be discharged”.
2. A shotgun is a type of gun intended to fire a large number of small pellets rather than a single lead bullet or slug.

It is more difficult to get a licence for firearms than for shotguns, because weapons that fire bullets must ONLY be used for specific purposes in specific places. These would include deer stalking or sports shooting on an approved range

In contrast, shotguns tend to be used in more general rural circumstances, such as by farmers who are protecting livestock from foxes – and police recognise that landowners need guns for pest control.

According to UK law, there is no actual limit on the number of guns or the total amount of ammunition that a Shotgun Certificate (SGC) holder can possess at any one time, though each shotgun must be recorded on the certificates

According to the most recent figures for England and Wales, there are:

• 156,033 people certificated to hold firearms and they own 617,171 weapons.
• There are shotgun certificates which cover 1.4 million shotguns.

Statistics for Scotland in 2020 show that:

• 25,983 certificate holders held 70,839 firearms
• 46,703 people in Scotland are certificated to hold shotguns and 133,037 weapons are covered by that scheme.

Independent referees have to provide confidential character statements in which they are expected to answer in detail about the applicant’s mental state, home life and attitude towards guns.

In the UK, single, double and tripled–barrelled shotguns as well as those which have a lever action, pump-action, semiautomatic and fixed magazine capacity of no more than three cartridges are legal with a valid Shotgun certificate and meeting the basic safety requirements for firearm possession in the UK. Types of shotgun ammunition, such a solid slug, can only be bought following the granting of a Firearm Certificate (FAC).

However, there is a major general problem on gun control in the UK. You see, while if someone wants to extend or modify their house, they have to apply for planning permission and that becomes public knowledge, whereby neighbours and others can comment and formally object, whereas any enthusiast can apply for a firearms certificate WITHOUT that being disclosed to the public, whence they can secretly own and keep one or more powerful loaded weapons in their house or flat in a dedicated gun cabinet, without their neighbours or community being any the wiser. Likewise, a young person seeking to rent a flat for the first time will need a sponsor, or guarantor to cover non-payment, whereas a young person seeking a firearms certificate doesn’t need anybody to vouch for them nor be responsible for any gun misuse. MADNESS, eh?

Who is accountable? – our MPs of course who have created laws that allowed such murders!